A gang-rape on Friday night in Saurashtra region which shocked Gujarat turned into a caste conflict after a mob attack on the victim’s funeral procession on Sunday left one dead.

A gang-rape on Friday night in Saurashtra region which shocked Gujarat turned into a caste conflict after a mob attack on the victim’s funeral procession on Sunday left one dead.

A 23-year-old Brahmin woman was at her home in Nano Dhari village of Amreli district, when two men of Kathi Rajput community allegedly barged into her house, sexually assaulted her and thrust poison down her throat before strangling her to death.

The relatives of the girl lodged an FIR against one Sanjay and his unidentified associate with the Khamba police on Saturday. However, the police are yet to interrogate the accused and find out whether the incident was a fallout of an enmity between the two families or communities or just a case of one-sided love affair going wrong.

On Sunday, about 5,000 members of the Brahmin community joined the victim’s funeral procession. This reportedly infuriated the Kathi Rajputs. Later, a mob attacked the procession in which one person was killed and around a dozen injured. This enraged the victim’s relatives who ransacked one of the accused Sanjay Vala’s house in reaction.

"The entire incident has taken a caste angle as the victim was Brahmin and the accused are said to be from Kathi Rajput community, which is often accused of highhandedness,” said a constable of a Khambhalia police station.

The local media has blamed the police for inaction and raised the question as to why the police didn't provide security during the funeral which led to the violence.